


Oh Christmas Tree

by zilia



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Family, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 17:16:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8999719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zilia/pseuds/zilia
Summary: Jim and Bones prepare for a family Christmas.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doctorkilljoy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorkilljoy/gifts).



> This is a Christmas present for doctorkilljoy, who requested McKirk and lights. I've never written this pairing before, but I hope you like it, my dear! xxx

“How does anybody _do_ this?”

 

“What?”

 

He steps into the living room to see Jim wresting with a string of lights and the gigantic tree he’d insisted on bringing into their home. Only Jim could have chosen something so ridiculous. It’s so heavy that it’s tilting dangerously to one side, garlands zig and zag around it in headache-inducing colours, and the lights are drooping haphazardly across the branches; the whole thing gives an impression that the tree is so depressed about its own appearance that it’s trying ineptly to strangle itself.

 

“I’ve never done this before. Mom always handled it when we were kids, and then…” Jim looks down, hand rubbing over the back of his neck. “Well, let’s just say I wasn’t exactly in a ‘decorating trees’ kind of place,” he finishes lamely. “All the other Christmases since joining Starfleet, I’ve either been at the Academy or in space.”

 

He’s still getting used to seeing Jim like this; even though he’s known him for years and years, it’s only been recently that he’s started to open up when he feels vulnerable. He suddenly looks very young.

 

“Hey.” He crosses the room so that he can put an arm around him, and kisses his forehead. “Is this because you’re worried about Joanna coming to us for Christmas?”

 

“No, I…”

 

“Because you know she’ll love it, right? Firstly, she ain’t exactly gonna be marking it out of ten, and secondly, she loves you. She always has.”

 

“But what if it doesn’t look right? It needs to look right.”

 

“Jim, I promise you, my daughter, like her father, has terrible taste.”

 

Jim’s just parsing his way through that thinly-veiled insult when the doorbell rings.

 

“That’ll be her.” He kisses Jim once again, on the cheek this time. “I’ll go get her. See if you can put on some, um, finishing touches.”

 

It’s easier to deal with Jocelyn now that he’s moved on too. She’d always made such a big deal out of “Christmas being a time for family.” Apparently, nothing he could have given Joanna in the years since the divorce had counted as family until now, so he’d jumped at the chance to be able to spend Christmas with his beloved girl for the first time in years.

 

He runs his thumb over his wedding ring absent-mindedly as he makes his way to the door.

 

“Daddy!” Joanna shouts, running forward and flinging herself into his arms. She’s really too big to be doing this, and he struggles a little under her weight, but he won’t tell if she doesn’t.

 

“Leonard,” Jocelyn says, nodding to him across their daughter.

 

“Jocelyn,” he says, nodding back. “I hope you have a good Christmas.”

 

Her face softens a little. “You too. Now you behave for your daddy, Jo, you hear?”

 

“Yes, momma,” she says, her voice muffled by his shoulder.

 

“I’ll call you every day, let you know she’s all right,” he promises, as Jocelyn hands over the bags.

 

“Just make sure she has a proper Christmas, ok?”

 

“I will.”

 

“Give my best wishes to Jim,” Jocelyn says, as she turns to go.

 

“Yes, and mine to Howard.”

 

She nods again and closes the door behind her.

 

“You wanna go see Jim, sweetheart?” he says to Joanna, who nods. He sets her down on the ground and turns to pick up her bags.

 

“Yeah! Yeah, where is he? JIM!” she yells, and he winces at the sudden change in volume.

 

“He’s in the living room.”

 

She charges off to find him, and he follows, carrying the luggage. When she reaches the living room, she comes to a sudden stop.

 

“Oh! The tree!” she gasps dramatically, pointing at it. “It’s so pretty!”

 

He looks pointedly over at Jim, who looks as though he’s been adjusting the ornaments in a futile attempt to make the giant pine monstrosity look presentable, and he returns a sheepish grin. They step into the room, and Jim hesitantly approaches them, keeping a small distance between them and himself.

 

“You want to see the best part, Jo?” Leonard asks, and Joanna nods eagerly.

 

“Ok. Lights off!” he calls, and the room goes dark, the only lights in the room those twinkling on the tree. It really does look much better when you can’t see it too clearly.

 

“Ohhhhhhh!” Her eyes are wide as saucers in the darkness. “It’s _beautiful._ ”

 

Maybe he can disguise the worst of it with artfully positioned gifts. “It is, isn’t it? Jim got is specially for you.”

 

“He did?”

 

“He did.”

 

Joanna doesn’t say anything more, but she makes a slight movement, and, when he looks down, he sees that his daughter is holding his husband’s hand.

 

His eyes prickle and he’ll argue to his dying day that it’s because of the tree sap, even though Jim’s the one who gets allergies, not him.

 

Their first Christmas as a family.

 

It’s going to be a great one.


End file.
